A Kiwi gets a senior role in the Trump White House
The Herald reports:
Chris Liddell, the Kiwi joining Donald Trump’s administration as an assistant to the President and director of Strategic Initiatives, is one of New Zealand’s leading businessmen.
The 58-year-old’s impressive C.V. includes stints as the chief financial officer of Microsoft and General Motors.
While at GM, he helped engineer its US$23 billion float in 2010 – at the time one of the biggest sharemarket listings in history.
The chairman of accounting software maker Xero, the father-of-two has held positions as the CFO of International Paper, a chief executive of Carter Holt Harvey and co-CEO of investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston.
A companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit, Liddell also chairs Next Foundation – an environmental and education fund.
Liddell told the Herald in late 2015 that he sees philanthropy as a natural extension of his business career. “I don’t see them as two separate things – just a natural part of life’s journey.” Liddell said at the time that he came from a “relatively poor” background.
“My father died when I was young and left my mother with five kids at school,” he said.
“If it hadn’t been for the New Zealand education system and all the other things that we benefit from in New Zealand, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I’ve had.”
Liddell is a globally successful Kiwi. Regardless of what you think of Trump he is President of the United States for the next four or eight years, so having a Kiwi in his White House should be beneficial to us.
If the reports are correct that he is an Assistant to the President, that makes him a very senior staffer. The three levels of staff are:
- Assistant to the President
- Deputy Assistant to the President
- Special Assistant to the President
And below that are all the staff not directly appointed by the President.